Bad Luck Fale vs. KENTA
KENTA sets up the tone for this as he, in a classic KENTA move, delivers a slap to Fale's face before the bell rings. He runs wild with them strikes for a hot minute, until they switch the control to Fale via Jado kendo shenanigans. I thought it was a solid way to give Fale the control indeed, and Fale was good on top, with him softening KENTA's back up w/ his big man work. Very good performances by both, and an absolute hit of a match, all in all. ***1/2
Lance Archer vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
VERY good & fun stuff all the way through with Archer largely dominating with his power game, but Zack making the best out of any & every opening he got, constantly going for those submissions. ***1/2
EVIL vs. Will Ospreay
The only tournament match of the night that didn't rock my world. Extremely generic New Japan style epic-match counter sequences & big movez -- didn't care for most of it at all, but I definitely thought the whole finishing stretch was legitimately pretty breathtaking, but also silly with them counters at the same time. **
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
Unsurprisingly Tana did target Ibushi's knee, but thankfully it didn't last long & it was FAR from the main point of the match. Everything else apart from that kneework & the bad selling of it was absolutely fantastic. The match was charged with so much pride & passion + the perfect amount of drama that it can't be denied. Maybe their best match against each other, even. ****
Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA
I think most of New Japan, and specifically Okada, main events go much longer than they need to, so I was definitely not very excited about the prospect of him & SANADA going just about 30-minutes, BUT this was an exceptionally great New Japan main event. They had built a great story for the match, and the way it built inside that ring from the opening minutes to the unbelievably hot drama that was the last 10 or so, was simply fantastic. ****
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